Lessor facing liability to unpaid contractors

Contractors who worked on renovations at Dana Barros’s basketball camp possess valid liens against the landowner who leased the property to the camp, the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled.

The contractors argued that their claims came within the scope of the mechanics’ lien statute because the work they performed was “with the consent of” the landowner, Richard J. Madigan.

The SJC agreed.

“Madigan’s conduct … went beyond silent acquiescence in Barros’s undertaking,” Justice Judith A. Cowin wrote for a unanimous court. “The provisions of the lease and the pricing agreement evidence contemplation and active encouragement of renovation investments in the property that would, at Madigan’s election, remain for his benefit.”